Chapter 1: What Is Information? — It's Not What You Think
Information isn't about truth — it's about connection. From gossip around a campfire to the Bible connecting billions, information puts things in formation. Harari's radical redefinition of what information actually does.
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Our species gained power not through physical might, but through sharing stories. Around the flickering fire, information became our greatest tool for survival.
But information has no essential link to truth. Its real power lies in connection, putting things 'in formation'—linking couples, tribes, and empires together.
Consider the Bible: factually imperfect about history or biology, yet it connected billions. Its errors didn't matter; the profound shared connections did.
Reality exists in three layers: objective, subjective, and intersubjective. The intersubjective, like nations or money, exists only because we collectively believe the same stories.
A shared myth allows strangers to trust, trade, and cooperate on a vast scale. Stories are the ultimate technology for large-scale human cooperation.
The dark side: information can spread harmful beliefs. The printing press amplified witch-hunt hysteria, even making the accused believe in satanic conspiracies.
This is humanity's central tension: information networks must discover truth AND create order. These crucial goals often contradict, driving all of human history.
